Dynamic simulation study on fuel gas system

• Main Author: Quiles, Leslie Erica P.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2013
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/4494
• Institution: De La Salle University

Most process engineers carry out plant design using steady state calculations and models. It is the role of Process engineers to provide reliable and safe design of plants and respond to the demands of the public in promoting environment friendly and energy saving processes. Such could be achieved by plant optimization. Technology now a days has enabled engineers to carryout simulations to fill in the gaps of steady-state modeling and provide a more complete, reliable and efficient analysis. Simulation as a tool in optimizing plant designs if used correctly could provide data of high predictive accuracy that could assist in formulating operating decisions, strategies and even design innovations. Chiyoda Corporation, a leader in engineering innovation and technology, has adapted process simulation for transient analysis as a means to evaluate and improve their plant designs. In the early design stage of a project, dynamic simulation of fuel gas system was carried out using Aspen HYSYSTM software as simulation tool. With dynamic simulation, transient behavior and interactions among system components were understood and easily visualized. By running different scenarios as case studies, critical design issues and weaknesses such as: (1) pressure overshooting when a sudden loss of highest consumer occurred and (2) possibility of not meeting the desired heating value in the users were discovered in the current design. Dynamic simulation in this study served as a platform to assess the mitigations and make adjustments to arrive with optimal solution for each problem. Immediate tripping of major supplier during sudden loss of highest consumer was found effective not only in preventing pressure increase but also in maintaining required heating value for the consumers. Results of the study proved that employing dynamic simulation to conceptualize the optimal solution is effective, less time consuming and practical. It is effective in identifying critical design issues and conceptualizing control improvements in the current design of fuel gas at the early stage of engineering design phase which possibly avoid designs or field problems which might rise at a later time. Improvements in the system had made it more reliable and dynamically stable, hence improving the efficiency and protection.